"This teaches us a lesson, dear lady, try to stay on the moral high ground as long as possible, asuring every minute and second so as to condemn the potential or non-existent evil around you."
"So, play the hypocrite, huh?" Pala seed tickled by the thought, raising her tea cup to hide her impolite grin.
"It usually works in our favor." Shiller said, filling the teapot with water. After adjusting the lid and aligning the cup in front of him, he looked up at Pala and continued: "Our nature makes it challenging for us to genuinely be good people, unless it is beneficial, but many overemphasize practical benefits, forgetting to stress the advantages that co with a moral stand.
"So how should we actually proceed?"
"First, secure the moral high ground."
"What if there is no moral high ground?" asked Pala, sounding as if she were playfully challenging him: "For instance, when dealing with Talya, who cos to you angry and she indeed has a valid reason for doing so. Your student drugged her during their date. In this particular situation, you're certainly not morally superior."
"Then you create your own moral high ground."
Pala leaned forward, intrigued by the ongoing discussion. She watched as Shiller slowly poured water from the teapot into his cup, seemingly observing the flow of water.
"You could try to 'forgive' others."
"Forgive? Alright, I see. Appearing forgiving and friendly, making oneself look like a good person. But this can't be a universally applicable strategy, can it? We're discussing a situation in which we are in the wrong...
"Forgive her anyway."
"What?"
Pala let out a confused sigh, looking at Shiller with puzzlent written all over her face. It was as though he was talking nonsense, so she repeated herself: "I an, they didn't do anything wrong, we did...."
"Are you certain they didn't do anything wrong?"
"Uh...."
"The principle of social equality is to judge the matter at hand, but in social oppression, under no circumstances should one judge the matter at hand."
"What does that an?"
"When you think you are the one in the wrong and they are not, consider seeing it from a different perspective," Shiller said after taking a sip from his tea cup.
"There are two ways to do this: one way is to look at the situation over a longer tiline. In the short run, the other party may not have made any mistakes, yet given enough ti, everyone is bound to make a mistake."
"So, bring up old dirt?"
"Not necessarily. Instead, take their past mistakes as an established fact, then forgive them."
"And the second thod?"
"Broaden the scope sufficiently. The other party might not have made a mistake in this situation, but there is always sothing flawed about their temperant, character, or principles."
"And then also....."
"Treat it as a given, and forgive them."
Shiller blew on his tea, leaned back, and looked out at the withered garden outside the window, adding: "The other party's factual upper hand is like mud bricks and stones, building them a solid moral high ground, while 'forgiveness' is like a thin pillar, erected to support our sophistry in mid-air."
"Sounds like it's not much different from being obstinate."
Shiller shook his head, saying: "Please try not to think that way. Stubbornness, unreasonable behavior, and creating unnecessary trouble, these adjectives used to describe bad behavior usually refer to the aggressiveness in a person's actions, not the unreasonableness."
"If you are in the wrong and you resort to verbal abuse, people will naturally view you as being unreasonable. However, forgiveness differs from this, as it lacks aggressiveness. It is a more favored way of problem-solving in civilized society."
"When you actively forgive others, you not only imply that they, too, have made mistakes over a longer ti fra or wider scope, but you also diminish their aggressiveness. After all, if I choose to forgive and the other party doesn't, who is the one being unreasonable?"
Pala was completely entranced, with so of her past social interactions replaying in her mind.
Shiller continued: "In a social setting where there are bystanders, a very magical situation can occur, that is, the majority of onlookers focus more on attitude than truth."
"There is certainly an impact from the bandwagon effect, but the fact is, emotional impact is stronger than intellectual impact, and people perceive emotions faster than they perceive logic."
"Thus, the essence of social strife is not about right or wrong, but about who can control their emotions better, or even refine them into weapons, showing the blade when necessary or sheathing it, and guiding the emotions of the onlookers along."
"Many people think that the pressure of social suppression stems from one's own strong aggressiveness, but in reality, social and public opinion pressure is always more potent than the pressure generated by personal aggressiveness."
"Instead of allocating your emotions to anger to show aggressiveness, it's better to use them more efficiently and convert them into social and public opinion pressure. Aim these emotions at your opponent's weak flanks to knock them over."
"Sounds unbelievable..." Pala comnted, looking into Shiller's gray eyes: "It's as if your emotions are like a complex machine, the various parts of which you can manipulate individually and with great skill."
"We all can, Miss."
"I don't understand." Pala's gaze beca more serious. She hoped to get a response from Shiller's look, but when those grey eyes narrowed slightly, she instantly broke into a cold sweat.
Yet Shiller smiled and said, "What I an is that those who are naturally emotional find it more difficult to control themselves, and that you're clearly not one of them, are you?"
Pala suddenly beca shy. She put down her teacup, pursing her lips as she said, "Many people say I'm as unresponsive as a piece of wood... But perhaps they're right."
"The less water in the bottle, the greater the range it can splash around, making the experint of seeking balance easier to perform. It's an advantage rather than a flaw, as long as you don't care if you are genuinely happy or not. Do you?"
"I don't seek happiness from people." Pala was straightforward. "Being with plants keeps calm. I prefer tranquility to excitent."
"Then you can certainly use your inherent advantage to control social situations. No one could compete with you."
"Are you doing this?" Pala could rise and et his gaze, "Are you using this thod to suppress Talya?"
"No, that's not a strategy I would adopt because it's rather tireso."
Shiller leaned back, dropped his teacup, spread his shoulders, loosened his neck, seemingly stretching his muscles. His fingers, clearly articulated and rough-looking, grasped the knot on his tie and tugged lightly on it.
This movent irresistibly drew Pala's gaze. After all, Shiller's body language wasn't often on display and every action was ticulously executed. He was like a statue wrapped in a gorgeous suit fabric. His words were more noticeable than the person himself.
But Pala noticed a hint of a crack in the statue from this small gesture. Life's vitality peeked from it, revealing an unknown intimacy below the rigidly formal exterior.
That hand must have done many things in places she hadn't seen – tugging, stroking, disassembling...
"Forgive , dear Miss, I am not your professor. It's tireso to explain psychology or behavioral logic to others at length. I suppose I should let loose."
When Shiller's deep voice resonated in her ears, Pala felt a series of highly suggestive imageries rushing from her left ear to her right. At that mont, she felt like a linguistic analyst.
He seed to say: please don't forgive and dig deeper, dear Pala. I am not your professor, so there are no professional restraints between us. It's boring to explain psychology or behavioral logic to you at length, we could do other more interesting things.
So, the question arises- was he genuinely suggesting sothing to her, or was it a slip of the tongue? And would the cost of probing into this question match her anticipated gains?
Wait a minute, what was she trying to uncover just now?
Chills ran down Pala's spine. She stared at Shiller and slamd herself onto the back of the couch, saying with a little fright, "I'm not attracted to n! What was that about just now?"
"First tell what you saw." Shiller said with a smile.
"I..." Pala pressed herself against the sofa like a curled-up Indian flatbread. She tightly gripped the armrest with her hands cursed under her breath, "I've never fantasized about the opposite sex since I was born, I usually only..."
"...Only receive signals from your own gender?"
Startled, Pala nodded, staring unwaveringly at Shiller, alert like a mongoose facing a natural enemy.
"Think carefully again, Miss. Is your association with truly the kind you believe?"
Pala looked sowhat lost as she slowly let go of her grip. She couldn't sense anything from Shiller now. The cracks on the statue had disappeared, and he seed like a distant sun again. He was out of reach, so he wasn't a threat.
"What just happened?" Pala instinctively turned her head from side to side, seemingly looking for so sort of chemical agent that had disturbed her, but she knew she wouldn't find anything. She knew that as long as she willed it, no toxins could interfere with her perception.
"What did you associate?" asked Shiller again.
"So..." Pala wasn't sure how to begin speaking, but suddenly she ca to a realization. She furrowed her brows, "Wait a mont. I think I was confused. It's not sexual attraction..."
Shiller revealed a smile. "Then think carefully about what it is."
"You were...your hand..." Pala's expression remained a bit panicky. After about ten seconds of silence, she continued, "You were caressing soone's body..."
"Really?"
Pala swallowed, looking directly at Shiller, "More specifically, soone's spleen and pancreas."
Struggling to move her stiff shoulders and arms, Pala clung onto her arm and stamred, "What the hell... how did you do it?"
"That's my approach." Shiller picked up his tea again, sipping it before saying, "I only show my dangerous qualities to selected targets, making them attracted to without the ability to think of anything else."
Shiller gazed out the window, and glanced at Pala from the corner of his eye. "...It works especially well against thrill-seeking renegades."
"It does work." Pala thought to herself. She took a sip of tea, and, like Shiller, turned to look out the window, trying to calm her racing heart.
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